The rumours are cooking up and it’s looking like Tottenham Hotspurs’ newest manager will be Antonio Conte.
Upon the sacking of Nuno Espírito Santo, Spurs have turned to the Italian and have invited him to turn their season around. This could be a great thing for the Lilywhites, but a serious problem for title contenders come next season.
Chelsea faithful’s know all too well the impact that Antonio Conte has on a team - both the positives and the negatives.
The infamous 3-4-3 formation will most likely be introduced to the north Londoners and it may do them some justice.
Hear me out here, Spurs have the team for a Conte led regime, and if it works out… there could be some serious issues to follow.
God, here we go again. Yet another former Chelsea manager linked with our north London rivals. Antonio Conte looks destined to take Spurs to the level that Jose Mourinho couldn't. It's just written in the stars at this point.
Judging from his previous history at Juventus, Chelsea, and Inter Milan, the Italian will probably adopt a 3-4-3 system with the Spurs men. He was able to do it with a struggling Chelsea squad and make us look formidable, surely he can do with Spurs too?
It might be an easier task.
We saw the best out of a Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min partnership whilst Spurs were being managed by Mourinho. With Son being a prolific goal scorer as well as Kane. Under Conte, I predict their partnership may be just as, if not more, effective than Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.
Kane and Son are still in their prime years, they have the capability of delivering 15+ goals each per season effortlessly. Not to mention a possible revival of Dele Alli's performance. Even if that may seem far-fetched, Lucas Maura is a talent that Conte can tap into and bring the best out of in a forward position.
The wingback choices are where it may get interesting. Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses were made into world-class prospects just by transitioning into a wing-back role. Moses was sure to be a forgotten prodigy in the 2016/17 season until Conte turned his game around. I can't say that he will be able to master the craft as well as Marcos Alonso did. However, Sergio Reguilon seems the obvious option to occupy that left wing-back role. On the other hand, Emerson Royal might not be the most reliable with that much freedom. There's always the option of having Steven Bergwijn - he could be the new Victor Moses project.
Unfortunately, there's no comparing Chelsea's 2016/17 title-winning midfield with Tottenham's current selection. I do believe that the options of Tanguy Ndombele, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, and Giovani Lo Celso would become a force to reckon with under correct management. It'll be interesting to see how things unravel within the midfield. An obvious starter will be Højbjerg.
The final question is can Conte turn this current Tottenham defence into a title-winning backline? So far this season, Tottenham have conceded 23 goals in all competitions. Their fans are undecided as to who their best line of defenders is. It may not be as straightforward as Chelsea's was but it will be another kink for Conte to work out.
All in all, it'll be a serious ask to expect Conte to deliver similar results with this Tottenham side as he did with Chelsea in 2016. The attacking options will be a playground for the Italian whilst everything behind them would be a trigonometry equation to resolve.
Can Antonio Conte make Son and Kane work just as well as Hazard and Costa? Follow our CareFreeChelsea writer Anita Abayomi on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section. If you enjoyed reading this then give my other articles a read below.
